Blinking Reality
by The 80lb Carrot
Summary: The world where O:ZT took over 50 years ago and the X-Men never existed as seen through the eyes of one Cecilia Reyes.
1. You're Under Arrest for Murder

Blinked Reality- Chapter 1: You're Under Arrest for Murder

By: The 80lb Carrot

Disclaimer: The X-Men are not mine in any way, shape or form. Even this reality belongs to Judd Winick (it's the first one they visit in 'eXiles')

Summary: Follows the life of one mutant (Cecilia Reyes) in a reality where O:ZT took over early and the X-Men never existed.

Rating: PG-13 (language, violence, dark situations)

__

Author's Notes: This is alternate reality is not mine. If you've read the 'eXiles' series by Judd, Mike, and Mike, you'll recognize it. It's the very first one Blink and co. visit. Only this does not take place in Phoenix, it starts in New York, New York and ends near El Paso, Texas. It takes place a few months before Blink and co. arrive. Meaning there are certain characters that cannot be in the main body of this fic. Professor Xavier for obvious reasons, along with Juggernaut, Spider Woman, Chamber, Domino, that fire person, Storm, Beast, and Cyclops. Those were the ones I was able to recognize as being used in eXiles #2. Also, I don't know of many mutants outside of the X-Men so those will be the characters I use. **I changed ages--a *lot*. So just deal. **_Just a side note . . . _

-*-

If you're not human, these days the world is hell. Not completely human, that is. Cats, dogs, wild bears, fish, and even lizards have it all right, really--as all right as they ever did. It's mutants that have the hardest time right now, just like they have for the past fifty-some-odd years. Ever since Bastion took over with his Operation: Zero Tolerance geeks, and it got even worse once his son inherited it. Bastion the Younger is even more of a rat bastard than his father was, he hates us so much its unbelievable unless you've lived through it. All mutants are either killed immediately on detection, or captured and locked up. I've heard life there is even harder than out on the streets and that death is the easiest route of all. Bastion, Jr., has gone so far as to test pregnant mothers to see if their baby contains the dreaded 'X-gene'. If it does, it's aborted or pronounced a still-born at birth and taken from its mother.

I got lucky. Really lucky. _Mamá_ already had two perfectly normal, human sons so when she found herself pregnant a third time she decided not to waste the money to get me tested. There was nothing abnormal about the way I looked when I was born and for the first twelve years of my life I was your average Puerto Rican growing up in the Bronx. That said, when my mutation did emerge I got even luckier. My brother Enrique and I were looking for anything of value in an old building down the street when it started to collapse. Enrique managed to get out, barely, his four extra years of experience helping him, but I was trapped in the final stages of its fall. He thought I was dead for sure until he went back to look for me and found all the debris cleared out in a wide area around me, as if it had ricocheted off. I then knew I was a mutant and Enrique suspected it but we had been raised not to care, even sheltered one or two runaway mutants, so I was safe in my house for another year. But when I was thirteen raids and searches increased, and I wouldn't put my family in danger for harboring me. So one night I ran.

Spent the next five years of my life running from the O:ZT bastards, getting work where I could and trying to pass myself off for eighteen or older. I told everyone that my family had been killed as bystanders in a drug raid and I had seen it, thus forcing me to get out of there. And since I didn't *look* like a mutant . . . I dropped a letter to _Mamá_, Enrique, and Juán once a month to let them know I was still alive and free, and sent them any extra money I made that I didn't need. It wasn't much, but it was all I could do. My dreams of being a doctor had been utterly and thoroughly crushed and that fact followed me wherever I went. I had always wanted to be able to save people, ever since I couldn't do anything for _mi papá_ when he was killed in a drive-by shooting. Now more people like my father would die and there wasn't anything I could do but take it out on the O:ZT freaks that kept trying to track me down.

Not long after my fifteenth birthday I realized I was a wanted woman, a fugitive all across the country. Still my luck held out, they hadn't been able to get a good picture of me to pass around and I could find work without too much of a hassle. Most of the places I went to were too shorthanded to care if I was a mutant or not. It worked for another three years, having an honest job and killing off Bastion's underlings in my spare time. But just five days after my eighteenth birthday I screwed up, big time. Somehow someone had identified me, by name, and that was enough for them to track me down. When one of my letters was returned to me I checked things out and was told that my mother and oldest brother Juán had been murdered in their sleep and that Enrique was in intensive care. That much was true, O:ZT had snuck in and popped them in bed, but when I went to visit Enrique they nabbed me. I was dressed up as my own aunt and they still recognized me. No sooner had I stepped in the hospital room than the door was locked and I was surrounded. One of the men put a gun to my brother's head and another put one to mine. It wouldn't kill me, but Enrique would be _no mas_.

"Cecilia Reyes, you are under arrest for the murder of twenty seven government troops."

The utter astonishment in my brother's eyes was the last thing I saw before everything went black.

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you like? i hope so. review please, tell me if i should take it any further or just take it off right here and now. there will be couples of course, but they will *not* be a main part of the story. i repeat, *not* a main part of the story. remy/rogue is a must, simply because i've already got their part in all this planned. I'm thinking about a jean/warren cause not betsy in this fic until much later. other than that, it's all up to you. so tell me what you think of the story and really where i should go with this.


	2. Quite the Story You Have There, Chica

Blinked Reality- Chapter 2: That's Quite the Story, Chica

By: The 80lb Carrot

Disclaimer: Not mine

Summary: Same as the other

Rating: PG-13 (may be R later)

-*-

"Who *is* she?"

"I've told you before, I'll tell you again, Jubilation. We. Do. Not. Know."

"Certainly doesn't look 15."

"Quiet everyone, back off. I think she's coming around."

I opened first one eye, then the other, grateful that the lights were dim. I realized I was lying on my back on a cot in a large room. Spaced out evenly along the metal walls were dozens of other cots. The room, cell really, was about one hundred feet wide by one hundred feet long by eight feet high. Each corner had been boxed out, probably bathrooms. There were people all around me, looking from teenagers to men and women in their early thirties. Most looked quite normal but some were so obviously mutants it hurt. The woman who had last spoken was a redhead, most likely in her early twenties, with bright green eyes and a mutation suppressor around her neck. I shook my head to clear it and slowly sat up. "Where am I?" I croaked.

She smiled. "A mutant facility. Near El Paso, Texas, we've been told."

That cleared my head pretty quick. "Texas? You're joking. No way they took me from New York to Texas!"

"That's just what they've said," she clarified, "None of us know for sure."

It really sunk in then. This was one of those places I'd heard about my whole life. Where mutants were valued as animals and treated as such. All they knew was their day-to-day life, not where they were not what year it was, I doubted they knew how to read. Hell, I was amazed they could speak. "Who are you?" I asked, just trying to gather information about this place.

Another sweet but condescending smile. "Jean Grey. And you are?"

"Cecilia Reyes."

Another voice broke in. "How old are you? Cause you start out in here when you're fifteen, like me, and the bastards 'take care of you' after you turn thirty-five. But, you don't look fifteen to me, so I'm guessing you're from the outside." I looked towards the speaker to find a young Chinese girl looking down at me. She carried herself like a ditz, but her guesses were a bit too intelligent for that act to be convincing. This was the one that had called Jubilation.

I nodded. "I just turned eighteen. They caught me visiting my brother in the hospital."

Her jaw dropped. "In a hospital? What the fuck were they thinking, there were witnesses there!"

I shook my head. "Let me rephrase that. They arrested me. Warrant and everything."

"Ah. Sucks to be you."

Jean helped me stand. "You must excuse Jubilee and her language. Logan teaches it to her."

"Who taught you to speak?" I asked out of the blue.

She laughed. "We all learn from the same set of teachers. It's part of one of the tests they do here. They like to see whether mutation has an effect on learning capabilities. It's also one of their psychological things here, to keep us under control because unlike most places they've risked having us in a group. One of the first sentences we're taught is 'mutants are bad.' Things like that are drummed into our skulls from an early age so we'll accept it."

This was actually getting confusing. "Why did they put you--us in a group?"

"Guess it's just a test on day-to-day interaction, _ja_?" I turned to see a man staring at me while he hung from a pipe on the ceiling. The six fingers and toes he had total actually helped him stay aloft, much to my surprise. At first glance he looked like a demon, complete with pointed ears, pupiless eyes, and fangs. He was covered in short blue fur and his eyes were solid yellow. He released the bar and did a flip before landing softly on the ground in front of me. I shook the hand he extended towards me. "I'm Kurt Wagner, _fraeulein_ Reyes."

Jean sighed. "Your name is Kurt Darkholme. You're too old to make up names."

He made a face. "'Darkholme' is my mother's name and she turned traitor. I like 'Wagner.'"

I was only getting more and more confused. "How many languages do they teach here?"

"Just one," Jean clarified for me, "Kurt was brought up in Germany but got caught five years ago. He got shipped around a lot until they landed him here, where he's pretty much stuck with the rest of us. His mom's a mutant too, but she turned him in and in exchange got more freedom from her facility" Kurt just narrowed his yellow eyes and glowered, obviously not happy with someone else telling his story.

He turned to me. "So, _fraeulein_ Reyes, what's your story?"

"Cecilia," I corrected him, "S_olamente_ Cecilia."

Kurt grinned, and I could have sworn he rolled his eyes. "_Ja_, fine, so tell."

And so I did. As I went, I gathered a crowd until almost half of the room was listening too me--most of them had never seen the outside world and needed to hear all about it that they couldn. First I told them about how I escaped early detection. Then about my dream to be a doctor and do for people what I couldn't do for my father. I had to interrupt myself then and add my family's opinion on mutants because it was crucial for the rest of the story. I told them how my powers emerged in a building collapse, then how I had to run and fend for myself. There were smiles all around and even a few cheers from a Cajun in the back when I unraveled my tale of revenge against O:ZT. But their faces fell as they heard about my family's murder and my capture.

There was a low whistle somewhere in the crowd. "That's quite the story you have, _chica_."

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well whaddya say? do i keep it up or not? is it total shit? review!!


	3. Friendships

Blinking Reality- Chapter 3: Friendships

By: The 80lb Carrot

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Summary: Same as the other.

Rating: PG-13 (maybe R later)

-*-

Gradually I got to know everyone and actually form close friendships with a few. The one who had spoken at the end of my tale was a fifteen-year old named Angelo. He was the only other Spanish speaker in the whole place but he was not one of the three who had been in the real world long enough to remember it. Instead he had been raised in a facility in Mexico and just recently brought to El Paso on his birthday. His power was definitely strange: six feet of extra, extendable skin. But with the suppression collar he lost control of it and had to tie it around his waist to keep it from dragging and catching on the ground. He didn't let it bother him though, he still joked and flirted and acted as though he wasn't a gray mutant who looked like a wet Wicked Witch of the West. No one understood the comparison.

The Cajun who had cheered during my story was Remy 'Gambit' LeBeau, the only one besides me and Kurt who had been outside a facility. He was an orphan, a young boy with the power to "explode t'ings," on the streets of New Orleans until at the age of five he was adopted by Jean Luc LeBeau, the leader of the Thieves Guild. His brown eyes, he told me, were red-on-black when his powers were working, and in the city they had called him _le diabla blanc_. "But on de first job, 'bam', dey nabbed me and now Remy be here," he explained. He was twelve at the time, that was nine years earlier.

Jean, it turned out, had been taken from her parents mere moments after she had been born and was brought up in a facility in Connecticut. If she ever got to use her powers, she would be both telepathic and telekinetic. More of the second than the first and still not very strong with either. She had been moved several times in her life; to Phoenix when she was eight, to Albuquerque when she was eleven, Tuxedo, North Caroline at the age of fifteen, and finally to El Paso at twenty. She was now twenty-five, and somewhat of a mother hen. She and Kurt were the first of my friends, though I was always closer to the German than to her.

A girl I had seen huddled by herself in a corner turned out to have a bit of a story behind her. "Information about yourself is not something given freely around here," Jean told me, "The more powerful you are, the less they tell you. Like with me, I know my name and my birthday, but not where I'm from or who my parents were because I have some power but not as much as others. Jubilee knows nothing about her family, but she does know everyone else. But that girl in the corner? She can drain the your powers, even the very life from you. We call her Rogue. They won't even tell her her name." Evidently, the mutant Mystique had taken pity on her and kept her alive for some time until their relationship almost bordered on family and Raven had taken to calling Rogue her daughter. She really was a nice girl, I discovered, if a bit introverted. Very, very self-conscious and insecure but she had people looking out for her, Remy most of all. She was twenty years old and had been born and raised in this very place.

Warren Worthington III--possibly the least powerful mutant in the facility but most definitely one of the most beautiful. Two huge, graceful wings sprouted from his back, just under eight feet in either direction, but without his powers he had no control over them and they simply hung limp from his shoulders. He was the twenty-three year old son of one of the most wealthy business tycoons of the twentieth century and would have inherited a fortune if he had not been pronounced dead at birth and taken here. Now he just moped around, complaining about the loss of his wings and it was only Jean that could ever cheer him up.

Perhaps the strangest of the mutants there was the man called Logan. His only power was an incredible healing factor, but that played a huge part in what made him so incredible. Fifteen years ago, in a small, private facility in Canada, a practically indestructible metal called adamantium had been surgically grafted to his skeleton. The side effects? He had no memory of anything that had happened before. And with his new set of bones making him so much more powerful they would only tell him his first name. Part of the operation had given him three nine-inch claws in each fist and although he could control them without his powers, it was his powers that kept him from seriously injuring himself every time he used them. He was somewhat of a surrogate father to Jubilee, taught her everything he knew. Including his foul language, it seemed.

Over the next few days, Kurt was the one I was the closest to. He explained to me in greater detail what Jean had already said about his past. His mother had lured him in with a false sense of security then sprung the trap herself to get him caught. However, being his mother, she couldn't let him rot away in solitary and pulled a few strings to get him here. Kurt hated her. He had barely met the woman and he hated her. It had been very difficult for her to catch him, he told me, catching a teleporter was never easy. He literally melted into the shadows and could 'bamf', as he put it, through a side dimension that brought him then into a different place. He was now twenty-two, bring caught when he was seventeen and making me the most experienced when it came to the outside world.

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romantic relationships come into play soon-- so send in your opinions! i've decided the basic direction in which this fic will go, so you can offer me *any characters* and i do mean anyone. except professor x, cause he's dead. but other than that . . . 

already decided:

remy/rogue

warren/jean


	4. They Do WHAT?

Blinking Reality- Chapter 4: They Do WHAT!

By: The 80lb Carrot

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Summary: Same as before.

Rating: PG-15 (maybe R later)

-*-

It was these seven that taught me everything I needed to know about the El Paso center. What the collars were--mutation suppressors that kept us as 'normal' as possible. Each of them had a five-digit number tattooed at the base of their neck and they told me what mine was. 00785. They told me where we each slept, where, when and how we got meals, what was done during the day, and what the prime use of this facility was. They told me that after I had stayed there for just over a week. A scientist, lab coat and everything, walked in to the room, followed by a troupe of Zero Tolerance freaks. He barked out several series of numbers and pointed to about ten of us in the room, five men and five women. Those singled out were immediately taken back through the door from which they had come. Jean, Warren, Remy, and Rogue were among them but Kurt and I were not. Utterly confused I turned to him. "What the hell is going on?"

He bit his lip and refused to meet my eyes even as he stood straight and taller than me. "We get put in a group for another reason-- it lets us get to know each other so we don't object . . . as much. They also treat us better, feed us more, that's why Raven had me pulled here." That didn't answer my question and I told him so. "You really want the blunt truth?" Of course I did. "They breed us here."

"They do WHAT!"

Kurt sighed. "We should have told you sooner, but-"

"But nothing! No way they're making me do that. I'm getting out of here--I'll go into solitary, I don't care!"

A rough grip on my arm jerked me back to reality. "We all heard your story, kid," Logan growled at me. "You killed a lot of them. You're only alive because they had some use for you . . . here. You go anywhere else and they'll kill you. The ultimate solitary." Then with that same feral grin that I had come to interpret as 'I gotta go kill something,' he left me to consider his words. I came to one, dissatisfying conclusion.

He was right. "Fuck."

Kurt raised one eyebrow in surprise. "Not that I haven't heard that before, but I didn't expect that from you, Cece."

I made a face at the nickname. "So I take it you've come to accept this."

"And have the daughter to prove it."

That right there threw me off. "Exc-excuse me? _Repite, por favor_?"

He smiled actually. "She's almost two years old, her birthday's in another three months. Adorable little girl, Raven pulled a few more strings and got me some time with her. Clarice is very smart, already talking quite a bit." That grin turned wistful now. "She'll be a teleporter, like me actually. Has odd colored skin too, pink, and eyes like mine only green. Her mom's features though."

As wierded out as I was, I couldn't help but ask. "Who is her mom?"

"Was," he corrected sadly. "Meggan died not long after 'Rice was born."

There wasn't much I could say to that and for the first time in a long time I was speechless and uncomfortable in a situation. I fingered the collar around my neck. "Oh." My voice was a lot smaller than I ever expected it to be, but considering the rush of information I had just received it was to be anticipated. _Dios mio_, I had just learned that one of my best friends was a father. "Did you love her?" I asked, hopefully trying to bring back happy memories.

He shook his head. "Love? No. We were just friends. She turned thirty-five last year, they 'took care' of her."

Death was not something I enjoyed talking about so I changed the subject. "Does this happen often?"

"Not really. Once every couple of weeks or something, takes them a while to decide what couple would be best." Best for what, I asked him. "All we can figure is that they're trying to make some kind of a mutant super-weapon and then bend it to their will. With all the work they do, it could be an army. We can just guess. They must be looking for a defense if they pulled you here." I wanted to know what powers they usually used, not wanting to use the names of people I knew. "Rogue's power seems to be pretty popular, her, Logan's, and Remy's. Mine isn't that useful to them. They seem to like combining telepathy with wings, make some sort of angel I guess."

Things were beginning to click together for me. "Is that why Rogue and Remy are so close?"

Kurt nodded. "That's part of it. They have a daughter, hasn't come into her powers yet but they say she'll explode things with a touch. I saw her when I last visited Clarice. She's got that same stripe Rogue does, and the red-on-black eyes Remy claims to have. Almost a year old now, I think. Cute kid, smart too. She's already starting to walk."

"You said that was just part of it?"

An uncomfortable silence followed. "He takes care of her as best he can. She's a beautiful girl and not all the bastards think that her being a mutant is too much of a problem when it comes to getting what they want." For some reason I had expected something like that so my reaction was more dulled than the others had been earlier. Things like that weren't uncommon where I had lived.

I sighed. "And there isn't a damn thing I can do about this."

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ok , a bit of a stranger chapter there. there may be kurt/cecilia in the future, but for the moment they're just friends. this will be a longer fic, i post it in chapter form because i like the reviews. and the more reviews i get the faster i work (although at the moment postings will be slow because i've got exams next week. yes i am still in high school). but with the length that this story will be you'll have plenty of chances to add your opinions to it. so keep reading and reviewing!!


	5. Abnormality

Blinking Reality: Chapter 5- Abnormality

By: The 80lb Carrot

Disclaimer: Not mine

Summary: Still the same

Rating: R

-*-

I had been in El Paso for twenty-nine days, if my count was correct, when they finally decided to do something with me. In the dead of the night the lights blared on and drowsy as I was they had no trouble pulling me from my bed. I stumbled along as they dragged my arms ahead of me and into a long hall. It was the first time I had been outside of that room and I was determined to make as much of it as I could. My eyes were glued to my surroundings as I was pulled along, drinking in as much as I could. It was unlike anything I had ever seen. Machinery encompassed me and swallowed me whole--it was a techie's dream come true.

I was yanked back to reality as they pulled me around a corner and into a separate room. I was shocked as they took the collar off from around my neck, then realized that the room had a power negator somewhere inside because my mutation still didn't work. These guys weren't taking any chances. Before I had a chance to react they were out of the room and the door had locked behind them. A voice came to me through a loudspeaker. "Don't even think about trying to escape. These walls are six inches of reinforced steel and beyond that are more devices than you could dream of to suppress your abnormality." 'Abnormality,' I thought, what a politically correct way to put it. Let's face it, I'm a freak. But the voice was right, the walls were quick think, solid, and opaque, though I guessed that they could see me from wherever they stood. I just didn't know what the hell they wanted with me.

Then the negator in the room turned off.

Power flooded from behind its dams back through my veins. I could feel it crawling through every inch of me, seeping through every pore of my being. It hurt, _madre de dios_, it hurt like fire running through my body and burning my blood. My hands clenched into tight fists, the knuckles gone white as I fought back the scream that rose to my lips. Gradually the pain faded and as the red receded from my vision I could see the guns facing towards me mere seconds before they went off.

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that was crap and i know it. a lame excuse for a chapter even after i took so long to do it. sorry to my faithful reader(s?) but to sum up my delay takes only three words. exams are hell. i really dont want to know what they'll be like when i get to college. chapter 6 may be a while coming out but i am in desperate need of a beta reader. please contact me. or review. yes, please review. working for one, maybe two reviews a chapter does not go over well with me.

so read and review. and contact me if you're willing to beta read this crap.


	6. Mein Gott!

Blinked Reality- Chapter 6: _Mein Gott!_

By: The 80lb Carrot

Disclaimer: The X-Men are not mine in any way, shape or form. Even this reality belongs to Judd Winick (it's the first one they visit in 'eXiles')

Summary: A world where O:ZT took over fifty years ago and the X-Men never existed as told through the eyes of one Cecilia Reyes

Rating: PG-13 (language, violence, dark situations)

Genre: Drama

-*-

It was a move I had not expected and was not prepared for. Animal survival instincts took over and I ducked, wincing under the impact of bullet after bullet hitting my force field. It was by no means a new feeling, in all my escapades against Bastion's troops I had been shot at, and unfortunately hit, several times. The experienced never changed, the pain never lessened. I never took it for granted that I wasn't really injured, but pain was not something easily ignored. That force field was like an extension of my skin--it couldn't be penetrated, but it could be hit and that *hurt*. It felt like, well, like something small banging against me time after time at an incredible speed but never breaking through. After what felt like hours, the miniature explosions ceased and the aching began.

I guess they decided not to waste any more bullets on the 'mutie' and switched to other methods. What felt like rocks were bombarded at me from all sides and instinct born from years of survival took over. Crouching into a fetal position lying on the ground I covered my head and neck with my arms and prayed for it to end. Although they may not have been affecting my body directly, the pain through the force field was becoming too much to bear.

But when my prayers were answered I wondered if that was such a good thing. A mechanical hand reached up through the floor as soon as the rocks fell away and grabbed my ankle and because it wasn't a harmful action my mutation did nothing to stop it. Another fist lashed out at my face but bounced off. My head jerked back anyway from the deflected blow and I knew that it would bruise within minutes. A third hand crept towards me slowly, holding a knife tightly between the fingers. The whole display was downright creepy to watch, I felt like I was stuck in an episode of the Adam's Family. I tried to wrench my leg from the first's grasp but it held tight and another two pinned my shoulders down. Moving slowly as it was the force field detected no threat, but as the knife dug into my skin it immediately repelled it. The wound still bled and as the hands released me I pressed one palm against the gash to slow the flow as I tore a strip of cloth from the hem of my shirt to bind it with. And for a few moments the only sound in the room was that of my own breathing.

I sat there for a minute or two, my hands still holding the makeshift bandage in place as it was slowly dyed red. My head hung low, long braided locks falling forward, as I struggled to regain my breath. So exhausted was I that I barely felt the draining sensation as my powers left me once more. No searing pain as there had been before, only emptiness that gnawed at the core of my being. I made no move to stop the two men who entered the room and snapped the collar back around my neck, merely hung from their grasp as they half-carried, half-dragged my back to the main cell and dumped me unceremoniously just inside the door.

They all rushed over to me as soon as I hit the floor, each asking what had happened and was I alright. 'Do I look alright?' I wanted to shout in their faces, 'I was dragged out of bed at three in the morning and shot at. But other than that, yea, I'm just peachy!' But I had not the energy for that and was limp as they gently carried me back to my cot and laid me on my back. A familiar voice pushed its was to the front of the crowd. "You look like you took quite the beating, Cece, you up to telling us about it?" he asked.

I nodded shakily. "They just wanted to test my force field," I explained.

His next outburst prevented me from going any further. "Just wanted to--_Mein gott_!" He had noticed the temporary bandage around my leg, and the dark red that stained it so badly. Slowly, with the care of a doctor, he untied the cloth and removed it, mindful not to tear the scab that was beginning to form. He sent Jean to fetch his drinking water and tore the hem of his own shirt while she was gone, wetting the fabric with the liquid she returned with and then cleaning and redressing the wound.

That felt better already. I told him so and was immediately asleep.

When I woke up, half the room was trying to comfort a sobbing Jubilation.

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i am so sorry that took so long for me to get out, but i had exams and i think i'm allergic to them because i was sick immediately afterwards. i got this done as quickly as i could. sorry about the so-called cliffhanger its call i could do and i knew i had to get another chapter out. i want to say thank you to my three or so faithful readers, you guys are great and thanks for reviewing all the time (you know who you are)

and a reminder to the rest of you: reviews make an author work faster!!

chapter 5 has been edited


	7. 00785

Blinked Reality

By: The 80lb Carrot

Disclaimer: The X-Men are not mine in any way, shape or form. Even this reality belongs to Judd Winick (it's the first one they visit in 'eXiles')

Summary: A world where O:ZT took over fifty years ago and the X-Men never existed as told through the eyes of one Cecilia Reyes

Rating: PG-13 (language, violence, dark situations)

Genre: Drama

-*-

"He's dead, he's dead, he's dead!" she wailed over and over, face buried in her hands. "They took him and now he's gone forever!"

I quickly scanned the people around me and came to only one possibly conclusion. Jubilation was normally a fairly calm child and there were not many things that could upset her this much. But Logan was painfully absent from the sea of faces of surrounding here and there was only one thing that could mean. He had had his thirty-fifth birthday and while I slept he had been 'taken care of.' Now his teenage protegee was near hysterics and no one could calm her down. I personally wasn't even going to try. Jubilation didn't like me much in the first place and Jean seemed to have things under control. So well under control in fact, it looked as if it had happened before. I voiced my thoughts to Angelo who stood beside me.

He gave me a very strange look. "You're good, _señorita_. They say that back a year or two ago, Jubecita had a good friend. The girl got real sick. Died in her sleep. They had to bring in the 'marvel girl' to calm the chica down. Seems Jean can do everything, doesn't it? Or is that just me."

Slowly, I nodded. "It does . . . sometimes. But its nice to know she's here."

He agreed and we both stood back. Jubilation would not be comforted, not by Jean not by Kurt not by Rogue, who had uncharacteristically stepped out of her shell for the girl, not even by Remy to tried his best to charm the girl into a sense of calm. The boy had a natural way to sweet-talk his way into anything and everything, except for now. So the fifteen-year old threw a hissy-fit in the corner. We were all going to miss the old lug but only she had permission to be outwardly hurt by it. And she expressed that through a temper-tantrum. 

'Any minute now,' I thought to myself, 'One of them is going to walk through that door and shut her up and she's going to like that even less.'

Within a few moments it looked like I was right, the muscle in the black suits piled into the room, but then I noticed the guy in the lab-coat that followed. I also noted the silence, realizing that Jubilation must have finally gotten quiet. The crowd around her had dispersed and we all stood on our own, facing the terror in the doorway. Putting a pair of glasses on the bridge of his nose he pulled out a tablet and started to read a string of numbers. I knew exactly what was going on and watched my new friends silently. The scientist's voice drifted in and out.

" . . . 00785."

I nearly went into cardiac arrest when I heard the last number he had called. It was *mine*. They were going to . . . Oh. My. God. No. _Dios mio_. Absolutely not. No-fucking-way. Nuh uh. If they wanted me, they had to catch me. I ran, I flat out ran like I never had before. I ducked and dodged as they chased me, sprinting between them and leap-frogging over friends who helped me out. Jumping up on the cots and leaping from one to the next right over their hands as they tried to trip me. A hand on someone's head I took a flying leap over them, landed on both feet and kept going. If the scientist hadn't shut the door I would have gone right out and down the hall. But I was trapped and could only stall as long as possible. It was inevitable, I knew that, but I wasn't going down without a fight.

A look over my shoulder let me know that I wasn't the only one unhappy with the situation. Kurt struggled as much as he could once he saw me fight back, but it was too late for him and they had his arms pinned behind him. I saw Rogue's head hung in defeat, noticing that Remy was not among those dragged off while she was one of the four girls. I counted them again. Three held back plus me equaled four. It didn't take long for me to figure it out . . . 

All this going through my head proved to be my downfall. Or maybe they just got lucky. Or maybe the numbers finally tilted in their favor. Whatever it was they circled me and within moments had me pinned to the floor, my arms securely behind my back. One of them hooked his elbow behind mine and picked me bodily off the ground, pulling me along as I kicked at his shins and struggled to drop myself. It was like fighting a rock. He didn't budge save to put one foot in front of the other.

They practically dragged me down the hallway as my feet lashed out at their kneecaps and legs. My captor was surrounded on all sides by his friends and companions, even if I managed to get him to drop me they would catch me up again before I had run three feet. But still I struggled and fought for all the good it did me. Kurt and the others were up ahead of me, I could hear him calling back. I didn't answer, breath saved was breath saved for fighting. I kicked again and again, scrapping my foot up his shin and digging my heel into his knee but nothing. The inevitable was almost in sight and I hated it with a passion.

"We suggest you put the girl down."

*******************************

a longer chapter than usual, no? glad you peoples seem to like my writing style, cause you're stuck with it for a while. i think i've finally figured out how i'm gonna end this. there'll be a couple more chapters, but in the mean time, keep reviewing!


	8. We Suggest You Put the Girl Down

Blinked Reality

By: The 80lb Carrot

Disclaimer: The X-Men are not mine in any way, shape or form. Even this reality belongs to Judd Winick (it's the first one they visit in 'eXiles')

Summary: A world where O:ZT took over fifty years ago and the X-Men never existed as told through the eyes of one Cecilia Reyes

Rating: PG-13 (language, violence, dark situations)

Genre: Drama

-*-

"We suggest you put the girl down."

I didn't care who said it, at the moment it could have been the devil himself and I would have accepted him with open arms. Slowly the whole crew turned at once, all in such shock I had even stopped struggling, and stared at the newcomers. There were four of them, two men, two women. The first I saw was the man who had spoken. He had that whole leader look to him, all in the way he held himself. He wore no special uniform, just cheap jeans, t-shirt, and red sunglasses. Beside him were two blondes. One was taller, her hair cut to her chin and eyes the color of ice. The second was smaller, and a lot less sure of herself, wavy golden hair half-way down her back. Somehow she had a country look to her. The last man was, put simply, huge. Not as big as Piotr but big none the less. Dark skin, dark hair, dark clothes, dark gun. Everything was about him was big and black. He was the holding an O:ZT man hostage, gun barrel pressed to his temple. The other three had guns towards the group holding me. I became the proverbial human shield.

"Let him go," one of the braver idiots said.

No one moved. By now they all had guns drawn and it was a stand-off. I realized, my gut dropping, that it was technically up to me. So with a deep breath I caught the eye of the tall blonde and nodded almost imperceptibly. She caught and copied the motion, and as one their grips on their guns got just a bit tighter. I had gotten lucky--she was a telepath. So with another nod, move obvious than the first I went completely limp and their guns went off, firing round after round after round. If they hit me, they hit me--I was only in the way. The O:ZT retaliated and in their haste dropped me. I caught a bullet near the elbow as I went down, but squeezing the wound between my fingers I rolled to the side and out of the way. The tall blonde put up a shield for them and it was all over within a matter of seconds. The country one rushed to me.

"Yah ok? Ah mean, Ah know yah not, but can ya hold your own?"

I nodded, sitting up. "You shut down communications? And get this damn collar off me."

The leader with the glasses was the one who helped me with that. The blondes and the black man stood on lookout. "We got that first. You sure you're alright?" The collar off, I was hit with the familiar pain of my powers rushing back and was crunching into a ball, cradling my arm as not to hurt it further. "Be serious now, if we give you a gun can you help us or are you hurt to badly."

"Gimmie the damn gun and I'll go after Kurt and Rogue and the others. You guys take the rest." I held out my hand and, warily, he smacked a semi-automatic on it. "I'm Cecilia. Who are you?" I put it down at my side and tore another strip from the hem of my shirt, bandaging my arm. Using my teeth and one hand I managed to get it tied in a decent knot. Kurt would only fix it later.

He pointed to himself. "I'm Cyclops. The tall blonde is Emma, the shorter is Paige. Bishop's the other guy."

I took his hand and used it to hoist myself up. "Nice to know. Now I'm gone. They're down this hallway, hard to miss. Tell Jean and Angelo I'm ok."

What surprised me more than anything was that he understood the stream of words that piled out of my mouth in rapid succession of each other. Running a close second was his response. "We've already got people scouring the building. It'll be down in moments. All you have to do it make sure you don't get killed in cross-fire. Your friends will be out soon."

I didn't want to believe him, but true to his word Kurt raced down the hall in only seconds, followed closely by Rogue, Wade, and several others I did and did not recognize. They split themselves into two groups, one that had been with me in the facility and the others our rescuers. They each introduced themselves to us, to make us feel more at ease, I supposed.

The young man made entirely of ice called himself Robert Drake. The english-woman beside him with astonishingly purple hair was Betsy Braddock, constantly on the lookout for her two mutant brothers. An illusionist behind them was a, truthfully, very ugly and scarred man by the name of Jason Wyngarde. In the very front, huddled in a low crouch, was a blue-furred man known as Henry McCoy. We introduced ourselves as I proceeded to take the collars off each of my friends. Kurt freaked when he saw my arm, but before he could do anything about it, a much too prolonged series of gunfire from the main room drew everyone's attention.

************************

this is coming to a close pretty quick, another two or three chapters i'm thinking. so read, review, and i hope you liked it.


	9. How Can You

Blinked Reality

By: The 80lb Carrot

Disclaimer: The X-Men are not mine in any way, shape or form. Even this reality belongs to Judd Winick (it's the first one they visit in 'eXiles')

Summary: A world where O:ZT took over fifty years ago and the X-Men never existed as told through the eyes of one Cecilia Reyes

Rating: PG-13 (language, violence, dark situations)

Genre: Drama

-*-

The boy Scott was a lot quicker than he looked, beat the rest of us there though not by much. Me and the big guy, Bishop, got there at about the same time and ended up stalling the others by a few seconds as we both tried to shove through the door. It was probably Kurt that finally kicked me through and put an end to the cork we had put in the doorway. Bishop was a walking artillery, the moment he was free he turned into some kind of demon with his guns blazing like hellfire. I did all I could to help but my style had always been more of a cut and run, all-out fights were not my forte. Surprising me again, leader-boy managed to hold his own, as did the little country girl. Ice-man took everything that hit him in stride, and Frosty did her best to protect anyone that needed it. Those she could not were shielded by the Braddock woman. With so many mutants on our side, the few that opposed us stood no chance.

But we were not without our losses. I found Angelo kneeling on the floor, bleeding, but no so badly as the teenager he held in his arms. Jubilation had joined her mentor, it seemed, I could tell that with barely a glance. Warren was sobbing openly in the center of the room, cradling Jean's head in his lap. She was going fast and there was nothing we could do about it. There were several injured, but Piotr Rasputin was the only other that was dead. I was the only one with an semblance of medical training and proceeded to take care of as many as I could, on the assurance of both Scott and Bishop that the facility presented no more danger.

Remy assisted the two telekinetics, Betsy and Emma, in removing the collars that had imprisoned the others. The shock they gave off could severely injure anyone without proper protection, so the Cajun's explosives were the only things aside from not touching them at all that could take them off. Scott's laser beams had taken care of my collar, but at the moment he was acting as leader and could not help. My force-field had protected me as I had helped the others in the hall, but I was now acting as a doctor with no time to spare. The arrival of the rescue team had taken down the initial dampeners so the collars were the only inhibitors left.

Angelo, it turned out, had taken a spare piece of shrapnel across his upper arm. Nothing major had been severed, but the bleeding was profuse. I instructed him to hold his arm above his head as I pressed the cleanest cloth I could scrounge up against the wound. Henry McCoy approached me as I worked. "If you require any assistance in this endeavor, I would gladly offer my services."

"How can you help?"

He smiled, showing fangs not so different from Kurt's. "I will not sugar-coat this. There were many experiments preformed on my person, not all of which resulted in the beast you see before you. Nothing I see, hear, or read escapes my memory, making me the ideal student. If you could teach me, I could learn."

Shock must have been evident on my face. "Listen up, Blue, cause you're going to learn a lot in not much time." I taught him everything I could think of about emergency medical care, all the things I had picked up as I lived on my own and supported myself. He followed me around, devouring every scrap of information I fed him and within mere minutes knew just as much as I did. It absolutely amazed me. He was a huge help, doing things that I could not as he had four hands as compared to the one I was operating with at the moment. 

I stepped aside for a second to examine my own wound. It wasn't as bad as I had initially thought. No bullet was lodged in it and it was relatively clean, taking into consideration that a lead slug had grazed the bone near my elbow. Some minor dressing was all it took but as I stepped back to where I was needed the most, I tripped over someone huddled on the ground.

*******************

ok, i'm looking for advice on further chapters. there's gonna be on that deals in Spanish for a while in the dialogue between two characters and i'm not sure how to list out the translations. do i put them down here in the author's notes, or translate as i go? read and review and i hope you liked it!


	10. We Have A Place to Stay

Blinked Reality

By: The 80lb Carrot

Disclaimer: The X-Men are not mine in any way, shape or form. Even this reality belongs to Judd Winick (it's the first one they visit in 'eXiles')

Summary: A world where O:ZT took over fifty years ago and the X-Men never existed as told through the eyes of one Cecilia Reyes

Rating: PG-13 (language, violence, dark situations)

Genre: Drama

****

Read this: Major Storm OOCness. She's gone from a regal goddess to a panicked teen. Apologies to all you Storm fans out there, but this is an AU.

-*-

I looked down, wondering who the hell would be stupid enough just to sit there in the midst of an emergency. I didn't recognize the girl, I had doubted that I would, but I did recognize the way in which she held herself. Something had scared her, or more correctly was scaring her, and there was nothing she could do about it. She had gone pale under her mocha skin and white hair lay loose everywhere as she buried her face in her arms. I looked up at Henry, he seemed to have everything under control and I figured I could take a few minutes off to see what was going on. Crouching down, I knelt beside her. "What's your name?" She could not have been more than fifteen. 

She looked up at me with solid white eyes filled with restrained tears. "Ororo," she told me.

"And why are you sitting here?"

The smile she gave me was sad and weak. She shook as she spoke. "I can't control it."

"Can't control what? Your muscle and bone movement?"

A brighter smile this time, but it faded much more quickly. "The weather."

Two very simple words. I had never taken into real consideration the powers that people like me could have, had never realized the extent to what we controlled. I was silent for a few seconds, listening carefully to what was going out around me. A storm raged outside, so loud and obviously dangerous I wondered how I had not heard it before. I turned back to Ororo. "Why can't you?"

"I don't know!" Her eyes went wide with fear and I could almost predict her panic. "I just can't and everything's going out of control and I don't know what I'm doing and I just hate it!" As her last few words bit off I could hear a huge crash of thunder right outside the facility and in only an instant figured out what was going on.

One hand on her shoulder, I spoke in my most relaxed voice. "Ororo," I said, calling her by name and returning her to the here and now, "You need to calm down. If you stop freaking out, everything out there will work out on its own."

She shook her head violently and the wind picked up. "No, no it won't. I've tried, it's useless! All the guns, they were loud and crashing and people were dying and bleeding and . . . "

This was not working. I looked around me to the people I knew. If only we had Jean . . . no, no no no, no wishing for that. Had to work with what was available and if the marvel girl wasn't around I would just have to resort to something else. I stood. "Samuel Guthrie!" I called, "Come here! Now!"

Two heads whipped around at my announcement, Sam's and that country girl's. I watched in utter amazement as brother and sister were reunited. It was the last thing I had expected, but looking at the two of them I found that in fact they *did* look and act quite alike. Not wanting to break up the family reunion, I had to call on someone else. 

"Sarah!" The pink haired girl looked back around at me and came over. Rumor had had it that as a child she had no control over the bone growths that came with her mutation, but had been forced to learn it before they could collar her. Without her healing factor, no control would have led to her bleeding to death. But now that she had her healing back the growths had just as much control as ever so I could not have disproved the rumors. "I need you to stay here with Ororo," I told her, "Make sure she calms down and gets control of the storm outside."

"I can take care of myself!" Ororo insisted.

"Prove it," I shot back.

She scrunched up her face in concentration and for a few moments the storm raged as before. But gradually she relaxed and as she did so it abated, slowing down until it was literally gone, almost as if it had never been. The teenager looked so proud of herself that I couldn't help but grin. I found it very strange how young she seemed when I was really only three years her senior. Somehow, cocky as it may sound, I had always placed myself on level with Kurt and Jean when it came to maturity.

"See," she told me, "I did it!"

I nodded. "It only took a little bit of goading."

She was silent for a few moments as realization sunk it. The look on her face told me exactly what her reaction would be and I rushed to stop it before the storm started up anew. "You worked hard to calm down, now stay calm!" I insisted, "When you get worked up you loose control of the weather and that only makes you worse. So keep control of your emotions and you'll keep control of your powers. You get what I'm saying?" She nodded. "Okay, Sarah, you take her back with the others. I've got sick people . . . to . . . attend . . . to?" I looked over to where Henry stood, surrounded by bandaged patients and smiling faces. "Or the doc could have taken care of everything."

Scott approached me just then. "How soon can they get out of here?" he asked.

"Who?" I had no idea what he was talking about

Exasperated, he pointed to all those that had been injured. "Them. We have to get back to base."

I was silent for a few moments. "You said you shut down communications first, right?"

"Yes. So when can they move."

It was my turn to be irritated. "Just shut up and listen to me. Did they get any message out?"

"No."

"So no one knows this place isn't still operational."

Silence, then, "right . . . I was just thinking that." He had grasped my point, even if he wouldn't admit it. Feeling quite proud of myself I settled back and watched as he got everyone's attention. The man was a leader, I had to admit that, even if he was a little to stuck on himself. "Cecilia has brought an important issue to my attention." That shocked me, he was going to give me credit for it. "As far as Bastion and Operation: Zero Tolerance know, this base is still under their control. As long as we play our cards right, I have some very good news.

"We have a place to stay."

*****************

questions? comments? flames? anything else of the sort? be sure to review the fic because i'm starting a new rule. i need at least 4 or 5 reviews for this chapter before i'll post the next one, so . . . 


	11. Sod Off and Leave Me Alone

Blinked Reality

By: The 80lb Carrot

Disclaimer: The X-Men are not mine in any way, shape or form. Even this reality belongs to Judd Winick (it's the first one they visit in 'eXiles')

Summary: A world where O:ZT took over fifty years ago and the X-Men never existed as told through the eyes of one Cecilia Reyes

Rating: PG-13 (language, violence, dark situations)

Genre: Drama

****

AN: I know, I know. I used Wade twice. Whoops.

-*-

The door chose that moment to swing wide open. "It's just us!" a jovial voice called out before Bishop could get a few rounds into the intruders. In walked three men. One was a huge, feral-looking mutant that with shaggy blonde hair and fangs that probably could have given as good as he got in an all-out fight with Logan. Another had a more foreboding appearance, choosing to don a full body costume of red with black markings, small, dark holes where his eyes should have been. The last was a nose-less, hair-less albino in a uniform colored in blue with yellow gloves and a long pink cape. I had to know where he got that, and where to avoid. It was the figure in red and black who spoke.

"Hate to interrupt this happy-happy joy-joy thing we've got going on," obviously referring to the family reunion between Sam and Paige, "But Whitey, 'Tooth, and I have found something that's gonna give us more trouble than we expected." Henry told me who the three men were. The feral one was Victor Creed, though he also went by Sabretooth. The albino called himself Morph and would give no other name. And the speaker was a mutated mutant named Wade Wilson but he preferred his more mercenary-like label of Deadpool.

Scott did not look happy with said announcement. "What is it, Wade?"

What almost passed for a grin crossed Creed's face. "Kids." The door pulled back all the way and over a dozen children stepped in.

"Clarice!" Kurt rushed forward to one of the smaller girls, lifting her in his arms and swinging her around in a huge bear hug. She shrieked with laughter and clung tight to his neck with her chubby pink arms with a grin plastered wide on her face. He danced his daughter around, so excruciatingly happy to see her it hurt. The little girl was just as excited to see him and the second family reunion was in order.

I looked around at the other kids, trying to pick out recognizable features in each one to identify. The easiest was another little girl that toddled forward to the crowd we formed. This was the one Kurt had told me about, I realized, identifying the white stripe that ran through her short, auburn hair and the red-on-black eyes she stared at me with. She was very light, too light, I thought to myself as I picked her up, holding her carefully as I took her over to where Rogue and Remy sat. Rogue reached her arms out to me and I set the little girl in her arms. "Take good care of her," I told them, "She'll be an energy manipulator when she's older." It was all I could think of to say.

"T'anks, p'tite." Remy spoke for the couple, Rouge was too much in shock to make any words come out.

The rest of the children would present a problem. None of the others I had come to know had much in the way of distinguishing marks that could have been passed down. Two of the older kids looked my way, understanding exactly what was going on. They approached me, the girl, who had curly brown hair and blue eyes, speaking for them. "Could you or someone else here help us with these collars?" she asked me. I opened my mouth to respond, but she cut me off. "All except Pete's. He can't control his power and we don't want plasma knives going everywhere."

I nodded. "Sure kid, turn around real quick." My force field protected me from the electric shock that could have knocked me out as I removed the collar from around her neck. Knowing what was coming next, I offered her an arm to hold on to as her powers flooded back through her and she went through what I knew was excruciating pain. "You ok?"

"Yea." For just a second she flickered and I could have sworn her arm passed through mine, but then it was back in the open air and solid. "If you need any computer help, I'll offer my services." I asked her how and she told me as best she could. Turned out they hadn't limited mutant experiments to other facilities, but she had been the first here in El Paso. They had turned her into a computer genius, and then let her perfect that ability with practice. Her name was Kitty Pryde, and she was a living ghost.

I turned to the nearest person I knew. "Angelo," I said, "You up to giving a tour?"

"_Sí_."

"Take _señorita_ Pryde here to the nearest computer terminal and let her loose. Anything important I want run back to me. _Comprendes_?"

"_Sí_." She followed the teen out of the main room. He hoodwinked Betsy into coming with them, making it possible to relay information back and forth without having to take it on foot every time. The trio disappeared and I didn't hear from them for another ten minutes.

I looked back at the boy Kitty had called Pete. He sat sulking in a corner, the collar still painfully obvious around his neck. The gold sheen reflected badly against his pale skin and the red light blinked obnoxiously at me. He was not a happy teenager. I walked over, sitting in front of him. I realized then that he was actually older than his friend and probably would have been the newest addition to our room. But before I could open my mouth to speak, he cut me off. "What do yer bloody want, gel?"

A Brit. This story had to be interesting, I mused, but that could wait until later. "There may be someone who can help you."

"Oh? 'Oo? Let me tell yer somethin', luv, Without this damn thing, anyone 'oo comes near me gits skewered. Hate ter break it to yer, but there ain't a bloody soul 'oo kin help me. So just sod off an' leave me alone."

Definitely not a happy teenager. "I read about him in the paper a few years ago. He's a mutant, but he turned against us and fed information and tools to Bastion." The kid's eyes went wide at the thought of a mutant going against his own kind. "It's happened more than once: Raven Darkholme, Calvin Rankin, and this man Forge. He's a technical genius, can make practically anything. I'd bet if we can get our hands on him he'll make you something that'll help."

"If we kin catch the bloke."

I sighed. "Don't be so cynical," I told him, standing, "But in the mean time, I've had enough excitement for my day. Sleep calls."

"Not yet it doesn't!" Henry McCoy stood directly behind me, hands on his hips and a very determined look on his face. "Lorna discovered real medical supplies and I am taking care of that arm before it becomes infected and we are compelled to amputate. So seat your posterior on the floor, young lady, and hold out your arm." Knowing never to fight a doctor I gave up without a fight. After only a few moments of painful and vigorous cleaning, he redressed it and once getting his stamp of approval I was fast asleep.

-*-

there will be spanish in the next chapter. i've been learning it for the past four years and now that i'm finally beginning to understand it, i want to show off. but thanks to fuzzyblue's suggestion, it will be translated right there in the story! don't forget to review.


	12. Who, Me? Never.

Blinked Reality

By: The 80lb Carrot

Disclaimer: The X-Men are not mine in any way, shape or form. Even this reality belongs to Judd Winick (it's the first one they visit in 'eXiles')

Summary: A world where O:ZT took over fifty years ago and the X-Men never existed as told through the eyes of one Cecilia Reyes

Rating: PG-13 (language, violence, dark situations)

Genre: Drama

-*-

Everything was settled around the place rather quickly. It was cleaned from top to bottom in under a day as everyone worked beside everyone else, down on their hands and knees scrubbing and putting things away. Empty rooms were converted to dorms, there were almost enough for each person to have their own. The children were placed in the care of their parents and if their parents could not be found there were plenty of people willing to adopt. Kurt, having no experience in taking care of a two-year old, practically begged me to take the room next to him so that I could be close at hand should Clarice start crying in the middle of the night. I spent the next few days teaching child care to the rest of the group.

But after those few days the time began to pass tediously and life fell into such a routine it became boring. Finally it clicked with me what I had been neglecting to do. Before leaving I informed Scott, he was in fact the team's field leader, of my journey and was off before he could tell me I couldn't go. My destination was back in the Bronx. I scraped together a stolen credit card number and a fake ID that matched it was on the next plane to New York. Betsy and Emma had taken care in erecting such mental shields that my mutant presence would not be noticed.

I stepped off the plane in JFK and boarded the first train I found. The ride was a little less than half an hour and I was in back in the station moments after the train slid to a stop. A cloak pulled over my head I got out of there as fast as I could without drawing attention to myself, and thanked my lucky stars that I carried no visible signs of my mutation. I knew exactly where I was going, my old home on the edges of the Bronx where I hoped to find the information I needed before I was off again.

Making my way slowly up the stairs I avoided the elevator, knowing that it seemed to like stranding me halfway between the second and third floors. The door to the apartment I had called home for so many years was locked tight and I took the precaution to knock before opening it.

Much to my surprise, a voice stopped me before I entered. "_Quién es_?" [Who is it?]

I recognized the voice and threw back my hood in surprise. It was my cousin. "Paul?" I asked, "_Eres que tú_?" [Is that you?]

A chunk of the door slid aside at eye level, just like in all the movies. A pair of brown eyes I knew very well stared back at me. "Cecilia? _Por qué eres aquí_?" [Why are you here?]

That wasn't a good sign. "_Dónde está Enrique_?" [Where is Enrique?] He was the only one I was concerned with finding.

"_Por qué_?" [Why?]

"_Porque él es mi hermano y quiero verlo. Digame dónde mi hermano está_!" [Because he's my brother and I want to see him. Tell me where my brother is!]

There was a long sigh, then, "_Está aquí_." [He's here.] He released the chain that held the door and opened a foot or two, just enough for me to slip in and then shut it behind me. "_No quiero para *ellos* devolver_," [I didn't want for *them* to return.] he told me in way of explanation, then switched to English. "I brought Enrique back here after he was released from the hospital, it's the last place they'd look. He might be asleep-"

"He's not."

I turned, and coming through a hallway behind me was my brother Enrique. But not as I remembered him. He was thinner, more gaunt, and his skin had faded to an unhealthy pallor. His eyes were dull, no longer full of life but bleak and depressed. It seemed the bullet Operation: Zero Tolerance had put in his spine had inflicted permanent damage, confining him to the wheelchair in which he now sat. Carefully, but no less exuberantly, I threw my arms around his neck, so incredibly grateful to see him. "I've missed you so much!"

His personality was as cold as his person. "The same."

This was not the brother I had always known. "Enrique, what's wrong here?"

He refused to meet my eyes. "You try learning your baby sister is a murderer.

Ah. That. *That*. This could take some explaining. "You know what Operation: Zero Tolerance is?" He nodded, silent, and I continued. "Well, they're a lot meaner than they seem. I was trying to avoid exactly what happened to me. I was shoved in a facility for the abnormal and tested and tested and practically experimented on. I killed those people because they were trying to put me there and I avoided it for five years until they took you down and they caught me."

"But you killed those people."

He was still mad. "Yea, yea, I did. I had to. It was me or them, really. I shouldn't have, but I don't regret it. You catch the difference there?"

Enrique nodded, finally looking me in the eye. "How'd you get out."

I sighed. "Not going into those details. The less you know the less danger you're in. I just had to make sure that you're doing ok. And let you know that I'm ok."

"You're ok? What are you talking about? You weigh at least fifteen pounds less than you should and . . . " He went on and on like a overly protective older brother should and I let him, it was too nice seeing him again for me to complain. When he finally shut up he just sighed deeply and hugged me again. "I really missed you a lot, Cece. Don't stay away."

I smiled. "I'm not. I'll check in every once in a while. But you take care of yourself, hear? And don't go giving Paul any grief."

"Who? Me? Never."

I laughed, and with a final hug, had to leave.

**************

ok, i'm just a little disappointed in my readers, only two reviews for the last chapter. at least four for this one, ok? but here's your chance to be disappointed in me cause i don't particularly like this chapter either. there will be one more, its all planned out in my head. review!


	13. I Didn't Believe Him

Blinked Reality

By: The 80lb Carrot

Disclaimer: The X-Men are not mine in any way, shape or form. Even this reality belongs to Judd Winick (it's the first one they visit in 'eXiles')

Summary: A world where O:ZT took over fifty years ago and the X-Men never existed as told through the eyes of one Cecilia Reyes

Rating: PG-13 (language, violence, dark situations)

Genre: Drama

-*-

I wasted no time getting back to El Paso, it was too much of a risk for everyone else if I was out too long. It was quite the humbling experience going back home to Enrique who still treated me as his baby sister. Back with the others, they had finally decided on the name X-Factor, I was held in much higher respect. Because of my days outside of the facility I knew the most about what was going on and how to deal with it. Scott knew how to lead, but not live. It was a fact I pointed out to him not long after my return. He was combat smart, but didn't have much in the way of common sense or people skills. I took over in that department.

Only a few days after I got back, the man who called himself Erik Lehnsherr arrived. He was the official leader of the whole group, some of whom had stayed near Phoenix. Scott was a field commander and reported back to this Magneto. He sat down with me within an hour of his arrival as I was second in command to Cyclops and had to be filled in on everything. He answered my major question of how they had been freed in the first place. It was a pretty unbelievable story.

Evidently a group of dimension-hopping mutants had done it. I listened to their names and to my surprise recognized a few. Evidently a grown-up version of Clarice was their leader, code-named Blink. The traitor Calvin Rankin was in their group, accompanied by the jokester Morph who was a jovial in his reality as he was in ours. The others were foreign to me: John Proudstar, Talia Josephine Wagner, and the deceased Magnus. He had not caught the name of the last girl to show up. This group had freed Magneto and all those held with him so that he could counter the man Charles Xavier who was on the rampage. They had helped and then left, leaving Erik and a group of mutants to save their world.

I didn't believe him.

Or at least, until he had Kurt teleport me to the facility he had been held in, and showed me the remains. Magnus had sacrificed himself to get the others back and nothing had been left of him as he sat at the epicenter of the blast. But the ruined building was quite convincing. He also told me what this Clarice looked like, and his description matched that of the girl I knew. Exactly. Needless to say, he persuaded me.

He also gave me the lay out of his plans. Only himself, me, Scott, and two others, Neal Sharra and Sean Cassidy. They were his other field leader and his second in command, respectively. All we were trying to do was free any mutant base we could and then, taking the peaceful approached, convince the President of the United States that all this O:ZT was wrong. He wanted me to be his second in that bit of diplomacy, but I declined. Erik told me that I was probably right, no eighteen-year old should have the weight of her race on her shoulders. Henry McCoy could help as well, if I could just assist him here and there. I accepted that offer and our meeting was adjourned.

And from there all we could do was pray.

FIN


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